Sumiko Smile Casting Better |work| ●

Inspired by the collagen fibers in a human vocal cord, this new "SmileCast" resin was poured into a mold containing aligned carbon nanotubes and micro-spheres of borosilicate. The result: a voice coil former that was stiff axially (for piston-like low frequencies) but compliant and fast radially (to capture the lateral harmonics of a smile).

| Metric | Traditional Die Casting | Sumiko Smile Casting | |--------|------------------------|----------------------| | Tooling cost | $45,000 | $62,000 (specialized mold) | | Per-part cycle time | 8 sec | 18 sec | | Post-processing (deburr/polish) | $0.42 per part | $0.03 per part | | Scrap rate | 9% | 2% | | Annual labor (finishing) | $210,000 | $15,000 | sumiko smile casting better